It was not his basic debut, but that is how it felt for Jorg Schreuders (19). The young Stadjer impressed against FC Dordrecht as an attacking right midfielder. “At one point I had the feeling: they have no business here.”
His brother Ties was disappointed. He had to play a hockey match and therefore could not attend brother Jorg’s glorified basic debut. The basic debut where his parents and another brother were.
Basic debut? Yes, that’s exactly what it felt like, Schreuders said afterwards in front of the cameras, microphones and notepads. “I was in the starting line-up for the first time last year against Go Ahead Eagles, in Deventer, but then as a right back. Against Ajax, shortly afterwards, I also had a starting spot. But of course that match was stopped after almost ten minutes and then played without an audience. This was really the first time that I played a full match in front of a full Euroborg.”
‘The audience was really great’
The young attacking midfielder, who grew up in Helpman, and who, together with Luciano Valente, had to provide the attacking impulses from the flanks, had enjoyed it. ,,It was amazing. I thought it went well, especially in the second half. Of course I’m disappointed that we didn’t win. We had plenty of chances, but the ball has to go in. But I enjoyed it immensely. The crowd was really great.”
FC Groningen currently plays a 4-4-2 system in which those positions on the sides serve as a kind of playmaker spots, which means there is more space in the center. Johan Hove and Joey Pelupessy were also a kind of ‘6’ against FC Dordrecht, Valente and Schreuders both played like a ’10’, but much more from the side than in the axis.
‘I had big shoes to fill’
A completely different position than that of right back. Schreuders, who played football at Be Quick 1887 until he was 12, knows it. “I was quite nervous before the match. They were also big shoes to fill, because I was playing for Leandro Bacuna. But I thought it went reasonably well in the first half, and actually well in the second. Before half time I had less control over the ball, after half time things went better and we also had many more chances.”
“During halftime, Dick said that I was doing a good job defensively, that the communication with Marco Rente was good, but that I had to be better on the ball offensively. I think we managed to do that after some rest. At a certain point they couldn’t figure it out at all. I thought: they have no business here. I would therefore like to give this competition a passing grade. But with a negative edge. Because it is very sad that we did not win.”
‘The audience recognized our way of playing football’
Coach Dick Lukkien thought so too, but he was also very satisfied with the game shown. “I mainly saw a team that fought to the last breath,” said the coach, who had recovered from an infection in his teeth. “I noticed it in the atmosphere, in the audience that recognized themselves in our way of playing football. There was a struggle, there was fighting. When you see how many interceptions we had in the second half, how many times we took the ball away, I’m very satisfied with that.”
Lukkien thought the match was one of the better of this lean season. And yet. “The feeling I go home with is a disappointed feeling. Because you can never be satisfied with a point at home against Dordrecht. Although they do have a good team, which has only lost once in this competition. We should have handed them the second defeat. It’s a shame that we let them make it 2-2. That was just poorly defended. We really need to get rid of those kinds of mistakes.”
‘FCG belongs to the supporters’
Lukkien did not want to go into too much detail about the administrative complications of the past week, in which director Wouter Gudde announced his departure and in which Erik Mulder and Berend Rubingh resigned from the Supervisory Board. “I simply accept Wouter’s decision,” said the Veendammer who lives in Wildervank. “What I have tried to do is keep the unrest that this creates away from the group.”
Gudde’s impending departure seems to have addressed some of the dissatisfaction that prevailed, especially in the North Stand. As a result, little of the actions that had been more or less announced before the match probably remained. Mayor Koen Schuiling did get a slap. Three banners on the Noordtibune briefly read: ‘Noordtribune warns Koen Schuiling/FCG belongs to the supporters/Not from city hall!’